Saturday, October 7, 2017 — Thanksgiving Menu

Introduction

Today's puzzle from Cox & Rathvon offers up a variety of choices for your Thanksgiving meal.

I invite you to leave a comment to let us know how you fared with the puzzle.

Solution to Today's Puzzle

Falcon's Experience ┌────┬────┬────┬────┬────┬────┬────┐ ███████████████████████████████████ └────┴────┴────┴────┴────┴────┴────┘ Legend: █ - solved without assistance █ - incorrect prior to use of puzzle solving tools █ - solved with assistance from puzzle solving tools █ - solved with aid of checking letters provided by puzzle solving tools █ - solved but without fully parsing the clue █ - yet to be solved

Legend:	"*" anagram; "~" sounds like; "<" letters reversed
	"( )" letters inserted; "_" letters deleted; "†" explicit in the clue
	Primary indications (definitions) are marked with a solid underline in the clue; subsidiary indications (be they wordplay or other) are marked with a dashed underline in semi-all-in-one (semi-&lit.) clues. All-in-one (&lit.) clues and cryptic definitions are marked with a dotted underline. Explicit link words and phrases are enclosed in forward slashes (/link/) and implicit links are shown as double forward slashes (//).

Across

1a   A turnip’s mashed /for/ some New World settlers (8)

PURITANS* — anagram (mashed) of A TURNIPS

5a   Summarizes // first of crops in harvests (6)

RE(C)APS — C (first [letter] of Crops) contained in REAPS (harvests)

10a   Pie slice // with border (5)

W|EDGE — W (with; abbrev.) + EDGE (border)

11a   Certain turkey // tidbit stuffed in a kind of bread (5,4)

WH(ITE M)EAT — ITEM (tidbit) contained in (stuffed in) WHEAT (a kind of bread)

12a   New company/’s/ pie included in feast (5-2)

S(TART) UP — TART (pie) contained in (included in) SUP (feast)

13a   Boy eating lean // cheese (7)

S(TILT)ON — SON (boy) containing (eating) TILT (lean)

14a   One who cleans // nuts, swallowing one (4)

MA(I)D — MAD (nuts) containing (swallowing) I ([Roman numeral for] one)

15a   That woman eating fruit notices // pioneers (10)

S(PEAR)HE|ADS — SHE (that woman) containing (eating) PEAR (fruit) + ADS (notices)

19a   Funny about private // bread choice (6,4)

D(INNER) ROLL — DROLL (funny) containing (about) INNER (private)

20a   Oafs // tossed peas (4)

APES* — anagram (tossed) of PEAS

22a   Lineup includes a // bird in the oven (7)

RO(A)STER — ROSTER (lineup) containing (includes) A (†)

25a   Force // it into sauce for the turkey (7)

GRAV(IT)Y — IT (†) contained in (into) GRAVY (sauce for the turkey)

27a   Warmest, // like wraps devoured by youngster (9)

TO(AS|TIES)T — {AS (like) + TIES (wraps)} contained in (devoured by) TOT (youngster)

28a   Dye // used in kitchen napery (5)

_HEN|NA_ — hidden in kitcHEN NApery

29a   Salt a kid’s // courses (6)

S|A|LAD|S — S (salt; abbrev.) + A (†) + LAD (kid) + S ('s)

30a   Stakes holding chance // cuts of meat (8)

B(RISK)ETS — BETS (stakes) containing (holding) RISK (chance)

Down

1d   Hocks // some kitchenware around Wednesday (5)

PA(W)NS — PANS (some kitchenware) containing (around) W (Wednesday; abbrev.)

2d   Dole hugs Diana, with a // sort of glow? (9)

RA(DI|A)TION —  RATION (dole) containing (hugs) {DI (Diana; nickname) + A (†)}

3d   Attempt acquiring England’s capital by // pact (6)

TR{E|AT}Y — TRY (attempt) + containing (acquiring) {E (England's capital [initial letter]) + AT (by)}

4d   Snapper we cooked // daily, perhaps (9)

NEWSPAPER* — anagram (cooked) of SNAPPER WE

6d   Octet having okay vision (8)

E(YES)IGHT — EIGHT (octet) containing (having) YES (okay)

7d   A fellow // spy (5)

A|GENT — A (†) + GENT (fellow)

8d   Devil-worshippers /and/ saints sat around (9)

SATANISTS — anagram (around) of SAINTS SAT

9d   Turn back /for/ some small drinks (4)

NIPS< — reversal (back) of SPIN (turn)

14d   Restrains // fellow workers around Polish river (9)

M(ODER)ATES — MATES (fellow workers; informal British term) containing (around) ODER (Polish river)

16d   Reptile // snarled at gorilla (9)

ALLIGATOR* — anagram (snarled) of AT GORILLA

17d   Bananas I can set inside fruit // blender, e.g. (9)

APPL(IANC*)E — anagram (bananas) of I CAN contained in (inside) APPLE (fruit)

18d   Put another way, // Communist embraces government (8)

RE(STATE)D — RED (communist) containing (embraces) STATE (government)

21d   Binds // fifty hardwoods (6)

L|ASHES — L ([Roman numeral for] fifty) + ASHES (hardwoods)

23d   A facial covering said // to be of use (5)

A|VAIL~ — A (†) + sounds like (said) VEIL (facial covering)

24d   Some breads // respond to yeast, we hear (4)

RYES~ — sounds like (we hear) RISE (respond to yeast)

26d   Big man in Irish poetry // club has a meal (5)

Y|EATS — Y (club; YMCA/YWCA) + EATS (has a meal)

Epilogue

Here's wishing Canadian readers a Happy Thanksgiving and those south of the border a Happy Columbus Day.

Key to Reference Sources: 

^[1]   - The Chambers Dictionary, 11th Edition
^[2]   - Search Chambers - (Chambers 21st Century Dictionary)
^[3]   - TheFreeDictionary.com (American Heritage Dictionary)
^[4]   - TheFreeDictionary.com (Collins English Dictionary)
^[5]   - Oxford Dictionaries (Oxford Dictionary of English)
^[6]   - Oxford Dictionaries (Oxford American Dictionary)
^[7]   - Wikipedia
^[8]   - Reverso Online Dictionary (Collins French-English Dictionary)
^[9]   - Infoplease (Random House Unabridged Dictionary)
^[10] - CollinsDictionary.com (Collins English Dictionary)
^[11] - TheFreeDictionary.com (Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary)
^[12] - CollinsDictionary.com (Webster’s New World College Dictionary)
^[13] - MacmillanDictionary.com (Macmillan Dictionary)

Signing off for today — Falcon